Just a year ago, by his own confession, Sir Richard Branson was a sceptic on
global warming. But last week, after a dramatic conversion, he set himself in
the forefront of a growing number of businessmen campaigning to stop it running
out of control.
The entrepreneur prom- ised to invest $3bn (£1.6bn) over the next 10 years to
try to kick-start a green energy revolution to replace, with new clean sources -
including biofuels from plants - the fossil fuels that are causing climate
change.
His private vision, it is said, is to try to do for renewable energy what
private capital did for mobile phones two decades ago - to turn a fringe
technology into a universal phenomenon that changes everyone's lives. But is
this just one more publicity stunt from a global grandmaster intent on promoting
the Virgin brand?
Fresh from his announcement - which dominated last week's meeting of the Clinton
Global Initiative in New York - he spoke exclusively to this paper about his
motives. For the first time he told the story of his change of heart; it
involved both the media giant Ted Turner and Al Gore, the former vice-president
of the US.
Global warming, he is now convinced, is nearing "a tipping point", at which it
runs irreversibly out of control. Indeed, he says: "We just have to hope that it
has not come already. We have to try to do something about it. One way is to try
to come up with a clean alternative fuel or fuels."
A great-nephew of Sir Peter Scott, the naturalist who helped found the World
Wildlife Fund, Sir Richard has long had an interest in the environment, at one
stage running an ill-fated anti-litter campaign for Mrs Thatcher.
But, influenced by Bjorn Lomborg's controversial nay-saying book The Skeptical
Environmentalist, he was dubious about global warming. He now confesses that the
book "set me back a couple of years".
His reassessment began almost exactly a year ago after Hurricane Katrina, when
"fuel prices went through the roof". He tried to find out the reason for the
increase and decided that it was a shortage of oil- refining capacity. "I
started to build an oil refinery, but then Ted Turner rang me up and asked: 'Why
not build a refinery for clean, rather than dirty fuel?'. He invited me to fly
to Washington to meet experts."
He went to the United Nations Foundation, a think-tank founded by Mr Turner as
part of a $1bn donation to the UN, which has helped lead the way in pushing for
biofuels in the US. He had lunch with a small, but distinguished, group
including Mr Turner; Senator Tim Wirth, the foundation's president; John Podesta,
President Clinton's former chief-of-staff; Boyden Grey, now US ambassador to the
EU; and Reid Detchon, head of the Energy Futures Coalition, another Turner
initiative.
Mr Detchon recalls that Sir Richard did not seem well informed about biofuels,
but "took copious notes and then did what few other people on Earth can do -
went back to his office and put serious corporate investment into it. He's an
idealistic, dynamic guy, not bound by established corporate bureaucracies."
Sir Richard himself says: "I decided that what they said was right." He joined
the steering board of the Energy Future Coalition and made his first green
investment - in seven bio-fuel refineries in the west of the US.
He plans to build more refineries in the east of the US, and then invest in
biofuels in Britain. And he is in talks with Gordon Brown's officials about
changing tax rules to enable him to run Virgin trains partly on them.
Last week's announcement came at the request of Al Gore. The former
vice-president spent two hours at Sir Richard's home in July while in Britain
for show- ings of his film, An Incon- venient Truth. Sir Richard said: "He came
to me and said: 'Do something big to kick-start the process'."
The entrepreneur announced that the money would be invested from the profits of
his transport companies, but admits that he suspects he will also have to "strip
it from other companies" and borrow on the market. He hopes that other
businessmen will invest large sums. It is, he stresses, a business investment,
not charity. "The only way that global warming will be beaten is if we can
create an alternative fuel industry that pays its way."
But biofuels are controversial, not least in the US, where making them is eating
up more of the corn crop, diminishing already depleted food supplies. As this
paper reported three weeks ago, the amount used for biofuel will next year
exceed US corn exports, which have traditionally helped to feed more than 100
mostly poor countries.
But Sir Richard sees making biofuel from corn as just a first step. He says the
holy grail is to develop cellulosic fuel made from crop wastes like stalks,
weeds like prairie grass, or simply from rubbish. He estimates that this
"dramatic step forward" is four or five years away.
Going further than perhaps he should, he discloses that he is researching yet
another possible development, "cellulosic butanol", which he says is a more
powerful and convenient environmental fuel than existing biofuels. He says that,
unlike them, it could be transported down pipelines and "poured straight into
cars", without having to adapt them. He hopes that it might even one day be able
to power airliners.
He has another unpublicised project developing wind turbines, together with the
motor-racing industry. And this week he will unveil plans for persuading
airlines to save energy. He says that if they do not act voluntarily,
governments should force them to.
But is this all for real? Isn't it all just about image, about promoting the
Virgin brand? "People do things for different reasons, not just one. I have
about 10 different reasons for doing this. One is to tackle climate change.
Another is to develop a clean fuel industry.
"But I would also love to have Virgin recognised as the most respected brand in
the world. If it can be a leader in tackling global warming, and that enhances
the brand, that's fine. It will enable us to tackle the problem all the sooner."
GREEN BUSINESSMEN
More and more top business leaders are taking up environmental issues - both for
their own sake, and as good business - and are pressing governments to act.
Stuart Rose
Chief executive, Marks & Spencer: Under him M&S has brought in Fairtrade
clothing, banned 60 pesticides from food, cut energy use and supports
sustainable fishing.
Stephen Green
Group chief executive, HSBC: Has made HSBC the world's first carbon-neutral
bank, funds green initiatives, urges customers to adopt green business
practices.
Chief executive, BSkyB: BSkyB can "bring the climate change debate into the
household", he says. BSkyB says it is the first carbon-neutral media company.
Ian Cheshire
Chief executive, B&Q: B&Q leads the way with wood from sustainable forests,
reduced pollutants in paints, has promoted alternatives to peat and recycles
vigorously.